Wire fence



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

B. SIMS. WIRE FENCE.

N 37.005 Patented Sept. 28, 1890.

i atto'cnu (No Modelf) 2 SheetsSheet 2. E SIMS WIRE FENCE.

No. 437,005. Patented Sept. 23,1890.

Q vivtmeowzy UNITED STATES PATENT I OFFICE.

ELIJAH SIMS, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS.

WIRE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,005, dated September 23, 1890.

Application filed April 5, 1890. Serial No. 346,697. (No model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH SIMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wire Fences, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wire fences; and the objects of my improvements are to provide a substantial and durable metallic fence in which the line-wires are maintained under firm tension, while the upper portion of the v fence is free to yield under pressure from the stock and to resume its normal position when such pressure is removed. For this purpose my improvements embrace a novel construction of the line posts and of intermediate anchored jointed stays and their combination with each other, the line-wires, and binding hook-bolts, whereby the posts are adapted to bind and adjust and maintain the tension of the line-wires, while the intermediate stays serve as fixed points from which they areiirmly supported at the lower portion of the fence and permitted to have a yielding capacity under pressure at the upper portion thereof by the contact of the stock, The post embraces a construction, in which the wire-supporting parts are adapted for vertical adj ustment to make the post parts rigid, while the intermediate stays are anchored and adapted for movement at right angles to the line-wires upon their anchor-connections, all (so-operating to produce a proper adjustment and yielding of the connected parts and a substantial wire fence.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my improved wire fence, which I will now describe in connection therewith and specifically point out my improvements in the concluding claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation of a section or panel including two of the line-posts of my improved wire fence. Fig. 2 is a top View of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of one of the line-posts. Fig. i is a vertical crosssection taken through the intermediate hinged stay. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the post, and Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross-section of the post.

All the parts of the fence are of metal. The

posts are of peculiar construction and are constructed of several parts. The anchor or base of the post consists of a casting formed of a flanged or ribbed shank part a and a head preferably of four right-angled arms b, having a central socket c and a screw-threaded hole for a bolt in the end of each arm. A central rod cl is fitted loosely into the central socket, is formed with a screw-thread e at its upper end, and terminates in an angular end f to receive a wrench by which it may be turned. end of the central rod and is of less width than the length of the arms of the base, for a purpose to be presently stated. A plate h, preferably of steel, is secured to each of the base-arms and to the screw-cap, preferably by means of screws i, which fasten the bent ends j of each plate to the upper side of the screw-cap by bolting into holes therein and to the under sides of the base-arms by bolting into the holes therein, so that these plates will stand inclined toward each other from the base to the top. They are about one and an eighth inch wide by one-quarter of an inch thick, and they stand in pairs at right angles to eachother and form with the base and the cap a post of pyramidal form standing about four feet above the ground, with an anchorage of about twenty-six inches. The outer plate of the post has formed therein a series of holes of suitable distances apart, into which eyeforming hook-bolts 7c are secured by nuts 1, screwed upon the threaded shanks of said hook-bolts against the inner side of the plate, and it is upon the outer sides of these plates and within the eyes of these hook-bolts that the wires are strung and supported, so that the fence will stand inclining inward according to the inclinations of the postplates. Between these posts I anchor in the ground what I call a stay m, formed, preferably, of a steel plate, which is pivoted to a cast foot a, forked at its upper end and formed with the pivot-pin 0, so that the end of the stay can be bent to form the pivot-eye around the pin to permit the stay to have an outward and inward movement thereon, for a purpose to be presently stated. These stays are formed A plate g is screwed hpon the upper with holes coincident horizontally with those are strung and which are secured by nuts in the same manner as the post-plate hook-bolts. Intermediately with these stays and the line posts I secure substays 1) upon the line-wires by eye-formin g hook bolts and nuts. The lineposts should be set three or four rods apart, the pivoted stays every rod, and the substays about eight feet apart. These substays, however, are not required when the fence is constructed for stock, but only for hogs and sheep.

It will be observed that the central postrods are free to be turned in their base-sockets by applying a wrench or other tool to their upper square ends, and that when these rods are so turned to the right their lower ends, bearing in the step of the base, will cause the screw-cap, which is fixed to the base by the plates, to be screwed upward on the threaded end of the central rod, and thereby tighten the plates on the post and make them rigid and firm.

The intermediate jointed stays are set in line with the lowest li11e-wire,and the fence inclines from such joint upward and inward about four inches from a vertical line. The object of jointing the stay to its anchoringbase is to permit the line-wires to give or yield at the top of the fence when the cattle come against it, and thereby have the effect of subdning their persistence in their efforts to get through or over the fence, and it is the capacity of the stay to swing upon its joint that gives this yielding to the upper line-wires. \Vhile the upper wires of the fence are thus permitted to yield by reason of the distance between the line-posts and the jointin of the intermediate stays, the lower wires are supported against such yielding by the fixed anchor-connection of the jointed stays. V hen the pressure is removed from the upper portion of the fence, it will resume its normal position by reason of the tension of the linewires when properly secured to the line-posts by the h0Ok-b01tS, which securely bind the wires to the post-plates and to the intermediate stays, giving a tight and substantial fence.

The anchor or base is dri ven into the ground, and the post is then erected upon it by securing thereto the central red, the side plates and their binding and tightening screw-cap firmly bracing and tightening all the parts together. Three of the post-plates may be made of rod-iron with screw-threaded ends and secured by nuts to the base-anchor and to the screw-cap, as it is only necessary to have one brace-plate to bind the line-wires, as stated, to the post. In this construction the pyramidal form of the post gives the important advantage of supporting the line wires and their anchored intermediate jointed stays under a substantial tension in an illward inclined relation to the fence-closure from the base-anchors to the top of the fence, and thereby forms an inward-leaning fence rendered unyielding at its lower portion and springy or yielding at its upper portion between the line-posts.

\Vhile the jointing of the stays is primarily to allow a limited yielding movement to the upper portion of the fence, itpermits the stay anchor or base to be driven into the ground by turning down the stay and driving upon the anchor-head, and in this way the stays are set before the line-wires are strung and at the time of driving the post-anchors.

I claim as my improvement 1. A metallic fence-post consisting of a base or anchor having a horizontally-armed head, a central rod loosely stepped into said head,a screw-cap upon the upper end of said rod, and plates secured to said base-arms and to said screw-cap, one of which is provided with holes for the reception of the fastenings for the line-wires, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in awirefence, of lineposts of pyramidal form havingbracing-plates and a suitable anchoring-base, intermediate stays having a suitable base-anchor jointed thereto, the line-wires, and l1ook-bolts,wl1ereby the line-wires are bound to the line-post, bracing-plates, and to the intermediate stays in an upwardly and inwardly inclined relation to the fence-closure, as set forth.

3. In a wire fence, the combination, with the line-wires, of line-posts constructed of a base-anehor having a right-angled four-armed head, a vertical rod centrally and loosely stepped therein, a screw-cap upon the upper end of said rod, bracing-plates connecting said base-arms and said screw-cap, suitable intermediate stays, and hook-bolts for binding the wires to one of the said post-plates and to the intermediate stays, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELIJAII. SIMS.

Witnesses:

ill. Z' Sins, G. W. ALSCHULER. 

